AC Milan – Football Kit Geek

On Saturday 10th June 2023, we reached the climax of the longest season when Manchester City won the Champions League (European Cup) against Inter Milan in the Final at Ataturk Olympic Stadium, Istanbul and by claiming their first Champions League Title also completing the “Treble”, becoming on the second English Team to complete this remarkable feat.

I wanted to follow my overview of the kits worn in the Group Stages with a Kit Overview of the Knock Out Stages of the competition, as well as a final overview of the competition from The Group Stages

Knock Out Round Kit Stats

30 Kits worn in Knock Out Stages – 29 games
18 Home Kits (14 first choice / 4 variations)
4 Away Kits (3 first choice / 1 variations)
7 3rd Kits (7 first choice)
1 Cup Kit
6 New Kit Variations used in Knock Out Stages

Overall Kit Stats (Including Group Stages)

87 Kits worn – 125 games
38 Home Kits (29 first choice / 9 variations)
26 Away Kits (20 first choice / 6 variations)
19 3rd Kits (16 first choice / 3 variations)
4 Cup Kits used (3 first choice / 1 variation)

Kit Overview

Group A / Group B

Group C / Group D

Group E / Group F

Group G / Group H

The 6 “New Kits Variations” seen in the Knockout Stages:

Napoli in Away kit with home shorts to give an all white look against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Last 16 game

PSG wore their home kit in 7 of their 8 games in the Champions League this season, their only alternative look came in their final game of this season’s competition when they wore their 3rd kit.

Real Madrid wore their Home Kit with 3rd Kit socks in their Quarter-Final game against Chelsea..

Eventual winners Manchester City, used their 3rd Kit in their Quarter-Final match against Bayern Munich, the first used in their Champions League and their 4th Kit Variation of the Competition.

One of my favourite Kit Tales of the Champions League this season was the Semi-Final / Milan Derbies, with both Milan teams opting for alternative (away kit) white shorts and socks in both games, each giving the teams new looks not used in the competion this season.

Kit Variations Stats

Looking in more detail at the Kit Variations worn by the Champions League Teams

5 Teams in 4 Kit variations
- Sporting (6 Games) – Home Kit x2, Away Kit, 3rd Kit
- Napoli (10 Games) – Home Kit, Away Kit x2, 3rd Kit
- AC Milan (12 Games) – Home Kit x2, Away Kit x2
- Inter Milan (13 Games) – Home Kit x2, Away Kit, 3rd Kit
- Manchester City (13 Games) – Home Kit x3, Away Kit, 3rd Kit
14 Teams in 3 Kit Variations
- 7 Teams in Home, Away, 3rd Kits
- 7 Teams using a variation of one their kits to give 3 variations in total
12 Teams in 2 Kit Variations
1 Team in just 1 Kit – Borussia Dortmund
Most variations of Home Kit – 2
- 9 Teams
Most variatons of Away Kit – 2:
- 4 Teams
19 Teams did not wear any Kit Variations, just default Home, Away, 3rd, 4th or Cup Kits
Most worn Home Kit – 9, AC Milan (out of 12 games) not including variation worn at Inter Milan
Most worn Away Kit – 6, Eintracht Frankfurt (8 Games)
Most worn 3rd Kit – 3, Ajax (6 Games) / Barcelona (6) / Club Brugges (8) / Real Madrid (12) / Inter Milan (13)
Most worn Cup Kit – 8, Borussia Dortmund

Knock Out Fixtures

Group Stage Fixtures can be found here

Kit Highlights:

There was a reduction in overall kits used from last season, reducing from 96 to 87 (10%) this can been seen in the reduction of variations of default looks used with only 13 teams using variations of their default looks.

Only one team, Borussia Dortmund wore just the one kit in the Competition this season, wearing their “Cup” Kit in their 8 games

Every game in Group C had a team in a change kit…..

Let me know you favourite kits, kit highlights and kit match ups of the 2022 / 23 Champions League in the comments below or over at @Kit_Geek

Time for Issue Number 13 of The Heat Press – a brief roundup of news in the Kit World and Kit Community, to catch up on Issue 12 click here

The Headlines

AC Milan 4th Kit
Fiorentina Kit Design Competition
Maradona’s “Hand of God” shirt
Plymouth Argyle – Ginsters

AC Milan 4th Kit

AC Milan have released their 4th Kit for the 2021 / 22 Season, this kit is part of a larger collaboration with Italian fashion brand “NEMEN”, the Kit was designed by Leonardo Fasolo, Founder and Creative Director of NEMEN and lifelong AC Milan fan.

The kit has been given mixed reviews from fans and those in the Kit Community however this gives a unique look to the Rossonere and is getting people talking about kits, which in kit design is something I can get behind. The kit has been worn by both Women’s and Men’s team this weekend in likely its only appearences on the field.

Fiorentina Kit Design Competition

Staying in Italy, Fiorentina and Kappa are given people the chance to design the 4th Kit for next season, there are some guidelines that must be adhered to in the designs:

Primary colors cannot be purple or green.
You can also use more than 3 colours as long as one is dominant.
You can propose a circled, striped, banded or checked design… but there must always be a dominant color.
You cannot replicate the Fiorentina logo or its elements (for example you cannot use the lily, the V of Viola, the name “ACF Fiorentina”).
You cannot modify or move the Fiorentina logo, the Kappa logo or the Mediacom logo.
You cannot change the shape of the shirt (collar, sleeves … the structure must remain as it is).

So for you Kit Concept Designers out there your designs need to be submitted by 17th April 2022, full details can be found here

Maradona’s “Hand of God” shirt

It has been reported in The Guardian that the shirt worn by Diego Maradona in the 1986 World Cup Quarter Final against England, famously worn scoring two of the most memorible goals in World Cup History is being put up for sale.

The shirt was in the ownership of Steve Hodge (Pictured below) who swapped shirts with Argentinian Legend after the game and has been on display at the National Football Museum of the recent years will go sale at Sotherby’s Auctioneers and estimate to sell for £4m.

Full details on the story can be found here

Plymouth Argyle – Ginsters

One of the most famous sponsorship partnerships in English Football is coming to an end. Plymouth Argyle and local savoury snack maker Ginsters have been in partnership since 2002, so at the end of this season their 20 year association will be coming to an end with League One club sporting a new sponsor for the 2022/23 season… will Pymouth shirts ever look the same again!

And Finally….

Whats happening in the Kit Community.

I like to end each issue with some of the “going ons” within the Kit Community.

Firstly our Friends at Football Shirts for Charity have released some new Charity shirts for 2022, following up from their wonderful shirts from 2021, they are producing three shirts each with a different colour details and you can include a name and number for no additional charge.

I have ordered mine, to go with my white shirt of theirs last season… its the blue one this year for me and cannot wait to add it to my collection.

Check out their site and place your order here

As you will know I am a lover of “Kit Logs”, maintaining a record of the kits worn by teams through out a competion or season, there have been a couple of examples that I have seen in the last week that I want to call out and share here…

PABLO has created this fantastic illistration of Spainish Segunda División B Hércules CF kits worn this season.

Paint Kits produced this amazing graphic looking at the teams from South America in the CONMEBOL 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, with what teams wore what kit through out the qualification process… as a Kit Geek, I love it!

There has been a few updates to my site over the past week, I have now included a section where I will keep the Kit Grids from the 2021 / 22 season in one place, the Premier League has been added with EFL Leagues to be added over the coming days (example below, Premier League up to 5th April 2022).

The page can be found at the top of my site,

I have also now included a “Friends of Kit Geek” section as well, where you can find other Football Kit Related pages that may interest you, if you want to see your site here please let me know and I will add it the list.

Let me know your thoughts and comments and if there is any content that you would like me to share in future issues, please message me and let me know the details or use the comments field below or contact me over on @Kit_Geek on Twitter